Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The 20th death anniversary of famous Pakistani singer Malika Pukhraj is being observed on Sunday. Malika Pukhraj’s original name was Hamida. She was born in 1910 at Hamirpur Sudhar near Akhnoor Jammu. Her family moved to Pakistan after the partition.
Malika Pukhraj had complete mastery over raags. She also had a great attachment to Urdu and Persian poetry and literature. Malika Pukhraj sang Hafeez Jalandhri’s famous song ‘Abhi To Main Jawan Hoon’ Adam ki ghazal ‘woh Baatain Teri, woh Fasane Tere’ in a unique manner that came to be considered as her identity. Malika Pukhraj’s husband Syed Shabir Hussain Shah was a highly educated government officer and author of the famous Urdu novel ‘Jhok Sial’.
Pakistan’s famous singer Tahira Syed is their daughter. The Government of Pakistan awarded Malika Pukhraj with the Presidential Medal for acknowledging her performance.
Her biography was published as ‘Song Sung True’ which was translated from Urdu to English by Salim Qadwai. Malika Pukhraj passed away on February 4, 2004, and was buried in Shah Jamal graveyard in Lahore.
